A scream of terror rings out in the deep woods. A hiker races about in circles, leaping into the air and shaking her limbs wildly. “Something’s crawling up my pant leg!” she shrieks to her companions. Modesty cast aside, she rips off her pants to discover inside, not the scorpion, centipede or spider she expected, but a humble, utterly harmless, pine needle.

The Guadalajara Chamber of Commerce is exhibiting the results of a two-week “plein-air” painting trip to Austria taken recently by two of Guadalajara’s best-known artists: Jorge Monroy and Ilse Taylor Hable.

Thanks to a turtle, I stumbled upon yet another part of Jalisco which can only be described as “stunning” for its natural beauty.

Fifteen years ago I camped in the gorgeous Sierra de Tapalpa at a place overlooking the big salt flats of Sayula, located about 20 kilometers west of Lake Chapala. In those remote woods up above, we discovered Alfredo, a man of letters living alone in a cabin, who seemed to have taken seriously the ancient admonition, “Know thyself.” I wrote an article about this “sagacious hermit-philosopher of the tall pines” in the May 24, 1997 edition of this newspaper.

The September 2012 issue of the National Speleological Society News (United States) reports a unique archaeological find near a small town in the eastern highlands of Oaxaca. More than 40 figures sculpted from mud were found inside “a river-filled cave with over one kilometer of passages,” writes explorer Tamara Ballensky. “They varied in size from about two to eight feet in length. The majority of the figures resembled humans … One of the most detailed female figures appeared to wear a beaded necklace and had tattoo-like designs on her shoulders.”

El Diente is a huge, tooth-shaped monolith which—for as long as anyone can remember—has been the favorite hangout (literally) for Guadalajara’s rock climbers to gather and practice their skills. The Tooth is located only five kilometers north of the city’s Periférico or Ring Road and is just one rock among a veritable forest of monoliths nestled between the rustic villages of Río Blanco and San Estéban.

CNN tells me the whole world is abuzz over the imminent release of the Snapple Phone 5… or was it the Gooseberry Smellphone 9981… or maybe the Androgynous Flan 4.2? Somehow the exact name escapes me – tasty as they all sound – probably because I’m completely sold on my own, personal mobile device: the truly versatile NOkidd’n NOphone. Believe it or not, my NOphone has been serving me faithfully for 71 years, nonstop and has never gone out of range and never let me down, even in the remote and barren wastes of the Saudi desert where I once spent some time.

Representatives of many major religions joined hands in Guadalajara last week in an event that allowed them to learn about one another and even participate in the rites and rituals of different faiths.

“A funny thing happened to us on our way to the cave.”

This is one of my favorite expressions, as not only funny things have happened, but also beautiful and inspiring things, mainly because of the extraordinary people we inevitably come upon in those lonely, out-of-the-way places where a cave may or may not exist, but where we often find adventure and friendship … and in the case of Barranca de Otates, signs of a most interesting “idea revolution” operating in rural Mexico.

I must confess that only a year ago, the very thought of reading a book on a computer screen turned my stomach. If you feel the same way, read on, because I eventually made some discoveries you might like.

Every outing we have ever gone on with botanist Miguel Cházaro has been an adventure. One day our friend took us to visit a cloud forest of maple trees and giant ferns, not far from Talpa, Jalisco. The next morning we had planned to return to Guadalajara, but Cházaro said, “There’s a botanical garden near here you really must see. It was started by an American and it’s unique.”

Official plans to rehabilitate the Primavera Forest after the devastating fire in April of this year are far from adequate, says researcher Miguel Angel Magaña of the University of Guadalajara’s Center for Biological and Agricultural Studies (CUCBA).

El Amparo is located 65 kilometers due west of Guadalajara and for many years its silver mines were the richest in Jalisco. Engineer Salvador Landeros grew up at the mines and eventually became General Manager of all the operations.)

The small towns around Lake Cajititlán are famed for their skilled artisans and you may have seen leaflets and brochures depicting, among other things, the beautiful basalt sculptures, colorful ceramics and rodeo-quality lariats produced in this area, which is only a 40-kilometer drive from Lake Chapala.

Guadalajara has several very well organized clubs specializing in outdoor activities like hiking, camping and mountain-climbing. These clubs offer excursions every single weekend of the year and their members get to see natural marvels that most tourist guidebooks never mention (except my book, Outdoors in Western Mexico, of course!). Some of these groups have been around for a long time, so today’s members benefit from discoveries of little-known sites made by other members decades ago. This year, three of the biggest clubs are celebrating their anniversaries. CEO (Cuerpo de Exploradores de Occidente) is 75 years old, Grupo Montañista Colli is 50 and Club Excursionista Huicholes Jalisco is celebrating its 41st anniversary.

A mere 23,000 years ago, the Primavera Caldera housed a big lake and was the site of frequent volcanic eruptions and  pyrotechnical explosions. Today the lake has been replaced by woods, but the Primavera’s hot rivers remind us that there is plenty of thermal activity just below the surface.

Having discovered – to my amazement – that there is only one place in the MegaGuadalajaropolis that issues driver licenses to foreigners, I decided to rise bright and early the day I set out for Transito, imagining I was at the start of an arduous and lengthy trial: the quest for my very first Jalisco licencia de conducir.

When I signed up for a night-time walk in the Primavera Forest, I knew I would encounter the unexpected and that’s exactly what happened.

Friday, June 15 marked the first public screening of “Phil Weigand, an Explorer for All Times” at Hospicio Cabañas in Guadalajara. The historical documentary was created by the team of Pascual Aldana, Daniel Aldana and Alberto Fuentes of Explora México under the auspices of El Colegio de Michoacán and TV UNAM. The film focuses on the life and discoveries of the late archaeologist Phil Weigand (1937-2011) who, together with his wife Acelia García, spent more than forty years unraveling some of the mysteries of a great and hitherto unknown civilization which flourished in western Mexico 2000 years ago.

Recently my canyoneering friends – members of the group Jalisco Vertical – decided to rappel all the waterfalls of the Jalpa River as it passes through Aquetzalli Canyon, close to the town of Chiquilistlán, located 65 kilometers southwest of Guadalajara. Although I’m not a canyoneer, I decided to tag along hoping to catch up on my writing in full view of a spectacular cascade where I could periodically cool off in a deep pool of deliciously refreshing, clean water. After all, the word Aquetzalli, I was told, means “crystal-clear water” in Nahuatl.